Hiram w



sweetssheet v2.

(No Model.)

H'.-W. RANS0M. RACK POR WHEELS,

I' mIE'nJLU 1" 53m,

HHESLJE single rack illustrating my invention.

UNITED STATES PATENT ,OEE-ICE.

A' HIEAM w. EANSoM, or CINCINNATI, on'ro, ASSIGNOE'OE ONE-HALE To THE EMEESoN a FISHER COMPANY, or SAME PLAGE.

RACK FOR WH EELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 293,783, dated February 19, 1884. Application tiled December 17, 1883. (No model.) f

4Wheels, of which the following is a specifica tion.

'My invention'has for its object the providence of means for the storing of vehiclewheels in an orderly and compact manner, and also for enabling wh eels, after bein gpainted and while the fresh paint thereon is drying, to

be turned, so that the paint or varnish will be kept evenly distributed upon the surface of the wheel.

The several features of my invention and the several advantages arising from their use, either conjointly or otherwise, will be apparent from the following` description:

In the accompanying drawings, Figre l represents a side elevationof one end of -a Fig. 2 represents a front elevation of a rack, and showing one kind and arrangement of slots for the reception of the wheels. Fig. 3 represents a front elevation of a rack, and showing the preferred form and arrangement-of slots. Fig. 4, Sheet 2, is a side elevation of aquad-l ruple rack. Fig. 5 is front elevation of the rack shown in Fig. 4.. Fig. 6 is a top viewof the upper racks shown'in Fig. 4, when the upper rails of said racks have been removed.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged side elevation 'of a preferred form of piece for forming the slots 11pon the rack-rail when the slots are' as shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 8 represents in end elevation' the preferred mode of supporting aquadruple rack, the figure beingon a much smaller scale than other figures representing said rack.

In order to fully illustrate `1ny invention, I will first describe my single rack, and afterward specify a desirable Inode, also of my invention, of combining together two or more supported. 'Both the lower rails, A A,"and' upper rail, B, are rigidly secured in position.

Ontheupper part of the lower rack-rails are projections @and on the lower part ofthe upper rail are the projections b. Between :the projections afare the openings or slots a', and between the projections b are the openings or slots b. The slots a maybe cut in rails A, in which event the projections a will -be in' one piece with the rail 5 or the projections may consist of a separate piece or pieces of material and be suitably connected to the rails A. i In like manner the projections b may be in one piece with the rail B, or consist of -separate piece or pieces-suitably connected to the lastnamed rail.. The rails A and B run Substantially parallel to one another. The upper rail, B, -is not only located in a higher hori-l zontal plane than rails A, but is also, when viewed at end, preferably located in a vertical plane to one side of the vertical ,center plane or point between the lower rails, A, andV is sufficiently farto one side of said center to allow the center of gravity of the wheel,when placed in the rack, to fall between the rail B and rails A.

When it is not necessary to place the wheels to be racked very close together, the bottoms ofthe slots a may be on the same level, and be soV far apart that the distance between the adjacent wheels placed in adjacent slots in the rack will be equal to or greaterthan the sum of the lengths of those portions vof the hubs of said wheels which are on the adjacent sides of 1 the said wheels, as shown in Fig. 2. In such a case the slots bvare preferably the saine distance apart as are the slots a', and are preferably in the same vertical transverse plane.

The wheel to be racked is placed in a slot, a, of lower rails, A, and in that slot b of-upper rail, B, which is in the same vertical plane as said lastnamed slot a. The weight of the wheel will now retain it safely in Aposition in therack. When the slots are thus farl apart,y the hubs of adjacent wheels will not in any way interfere. Ordinarily, however, it -becomes desirable to place `the wheels close together intherack, and to accomplish this,and yet'prevent the hubs of adjacent wheels from interfering, I have' invented the Y following inode of racking'them: In the lower rails, A,

I make the bottoms of the slots a to beat different distances above the rail. ThusI make, preferably, every other slot, which I will denominate a m., so that its bottom shall be a given distance above the rail A, and I make the bottom of the slot which I will denominate a v1, and which comes to a slot, a on, lower down than the bottom of the slot a m. In like manner on rack-rail B the bottoms of the slots which I will denominate bn, and which are in the vertical plane with the slots a. m of the front lower 1ackrail,arc higher up-i. e., farther away from the axial centery of the raek thau the bottoms of the slots b on, which are in the same vertical plane with the slots e a ot' the front lower rack-rail. The slots a 'm and a. a ina-y be placed much closer together than when the bottoms of the slots are all on the same level, as shown in Fig. 3, and the slots b m and b n of upper rail, 151nay be closer together than when the bottoms of the slots are as shown in said Fig. 3. A slot a m in the front lower rack-rail, and a slot b n in the upper rack-rail and a slot a n in thc rear lower rack-rail are in the same transverse vertical plane. Also, slot a n in the front lower rack-rail and slot b m in the upper rack-rail and slot a on. in the lower rear rack-rail are in the saine vertical plane. Then a wheel, which. I will name R, is placed in slot a. m in the forward lower rack and in b n of the upper rack and in slot a a of the rear lower rack, (see Fie. 6, left-hand rack,)V the front part of its periphery will set high, and the rear portion 'of the wheel will set low, and as an entirety the wheel will set low and backward. A wheel, which I will denominate S, set in the adjacent slot a a of the lower front rack-rail and slot b m of the upper rack-rail and in slot a m of the rear lower rack-rail will set low in front and high behind, and as an entirety will set high and forward. For this reason that portion of the hub (wheel It) which is on the left hand of the wheel in Fig. 3 will be behind and below that portion of the hub of the wheel S which is on the right hand of the wheel in said Fig. 3. rlhis arrangement of the wheels and hubs is also shown in Fig. l. The adjacent end of the hub of wheel R will then be so near to the spokes of wheel S and the adjacent end of the hub of wheel S will then be so near to the spokes of wheel R that if the wheels R and S stood ou a level fioor and the wheel S were moved forward, its hub would overlap and strike the hub of wheel It.

Placed in the racks having slots a m and a a, b m, and b n, the hubs of adjacent wheels can not collide,but will dodge cach other, and the wheels can nevertheless be placed so closely together in the rack that the distance between their fellies shall not exceed four inches. By the use of such a rack I am enabled to save about three-quarters of the space and room necessarily heretofore employed in storing wheels. Another advantage resulting from the employment of racks such as hereinbefore described consists in enabling the newly-painted wheels to be thoroughly dried in a handsome and workmanlike manner. For instance, after a wheel has been painted or varnished, it is placed in the rack. I'Icrc it is held upright, and its coat of paint or varnish well protected from being injured; but as the rpaint or varnish is drying and runs down toward the bottom of the wheel, thelat ter can be readily and quickly revolved a third or half turn by applying the hand to the face or periphery of the wheel at the point T and pushing upward. For the bettcrenabling the pressure ofthe hand to effectuate such partial rotation of the wheel, the upper rack-rail, B, should be placed in about the position shown in Figs. 1 and 4.. Then, as the fore part of the wheel is lifted upward, the wheel will easily revolve without especial friction against the bottom of the slot of the upper rack. For the purpose of still further eeonomizing room, I have devised a novel mode of combining a number of these racks. For example, I place two racks, one above the other, A A being the lower 1ackrails of the lower rack, and B the upper rack-rail of this lower rack, and AZ A2 being the lower rack-rails of the upper rack,

and B2 the upper raek-rail of this upper rack.

The racks may have projections forming slots a b", or one rack may have slots a and the other have slots, as a. m a a b m b u. Preferably, however, both the racks have the slots a. m a o1, b mb n, as heretofore shown in Fig. 2. The rack-rails are suitably supported. In the upper rack I j n'eferably place hind wheels, andin the lower rack the front wheels of vehicles, (the latter being of less diameter and extending less far ont from the rack into the room,) for the reason that space in the neighborhood of the door is usually of more value than the space higher above the iloor. Two of such pairs of racks as have been just described may be eompactly united, being placedI back to back, as shown inFg. 4, AA being the lower rack-rails of the additional lower rack, and B the upper rack-rail of the same, A A being the lower rack-rails of the additional upper rack, and B the upper rackrail of the same. The rails A A and A A are preferably respectively provided with slots (1. m a. n, and the rails B and B with slots b m b n, in the manner heretofore mentioned.

For still further economizing space, I place the slots in rack-rails A A and I3 in relation to the slots in rack-rails A A and B so that the planes of the slots in rails A A and B will pass between the planes of the slots in rails A A and B, and Ilikewise prefcrablylocate the slots in the rack-rails A2 A? and B2 in such relation to the slots in the rack-rails A A and B that the planes of the slots of the rails A2 AAZ and B2 will pass between the slots of rails A8 A and B. Thus the rear portion of the wheels of one lower rack can bc passed between the rear portion of the wheels of the IIO l er to rail B,"rails A2 A2 nearer-to rails A3 A3,

one upper rack would occupy.

arrangement of racks I am enabled to save atV and rails B'l and B3 nearer together. Thus these four racks occupy much less space than double the spacelthateither one lower and By such an least seven-eighths of the room heretofore necessarily occupied in storing a given bulk of wheels. I am also enabled to save much time in reaching and taking out such wheel or wheels as are desired. I am also enabled to providey a` means for securely and safely keeping the wheels on` store, and a novel, convenient,`and

valuable means and mode for enabling the paint or varnish, after being applied to wheels, to be properly dried.

Any suitable mode of supporting the rails of .the rack is to be employed. A desirable inode of supporting the quadruple rack is as follows: The rack-rails A A A A are secured to the floor. At each end is a central upright, D, preferably secured to the floor. Each uprightD carries a cross-piece, E, and to thelatter are secured the rack-rails B Bl and rails A2 A'l A3 A3. a second cross-piece, F, to which are attached the rails B2 B3. Braces G G, running from the upright upward to the ends of cross-piece F1, to stiffen and aid in supporting the latter, may be employed. (See Fig. 8.)

A preferred mode of forming the slots c m a. n or b m b n is by forming pieces K, in the center of which is the slot a m or b' m, as the case may be, according' as the pieces are intended for a lower or an upper rack-rail. The pieces K are then secured by suitable means, preferably by nails, to the rack of which they are Ato form a part. These pieces K are so fastened to the rack as to leave an opening or slot between their adjacent ends suitable for the insertion of the felly of the wheel. This last-named opening will form the slot c n or b n, heretofore mentioned.v The sides of each slot, whatever the distance its bottom may be from the rail, is preferably tapered, enlarging from the bottom toward its mouth. Thus no part of the wheel exceptthe tire will come in contact with any portion of the rack.

The rear lower rack-rail may be omitted when the slots or grooves in the forward lower rail and upper rail are sufficiently deep and long, but such a construction is not as desirable as the onehaving all three rails. Of course, the two lower racks can be employed without the two upper racks, and vice versa.

Any suitable form of projection a or b -may be employed. For example, round pins may be employed.

. While the various features of my invention Higher up, each upright D carriesare preferably employed together, one or more of 'them may be employed without'the yremainder, and when desired one or more ofsaid 'features may, so far as applicable, be employed in connection with racks other than those herein specifically described.

- What I claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is-' l. In a rack for wheels, the combination of the two lower rack-rails and the upper rackrail, each provided with transverse slots, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. The combination of the two lower rackrails and the upper rack-rail, each provided with transverse slots, the upper rack-rail being located behind the vertical central plane between the lower rails, substantially as and for the purposes specied.

3. The combination of the lower rack-rails and upper rack-rail provided with slots whose bottoms .are alternately nearer to and farther from the axial center of the particular rack to which said slots belong, substantially as and for the purposes specified. Y

4. The combination of the lower iaclorails provided with slots a m a n, and upper rackrail provided with slots b m b a, the slots a m of the forward lower rail and the slots b n in the upper rail and a n inthe, lower rear rail being in the same transverse plane, and the slots a a of the forward lower rail and the slots b m of the upper rail and a m of the rear lower rail being in the same transverse plane,

substantially as and for the purposes specied.

5. The combination of a lower rail, A, and an upper rearwardly-placed rail,'B, provided with transverse slots, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

6. Two contiguous racks having lower rails and upper rails provided with slots, the bottomsv of the slots on rack-rail alternating in height, substantially as set forth, and the Ioo planes of the slots of one rack passing between the planes of the slots o n the other rack, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

7 The combination of two contiguous racks,

the rails being provided with transverse slots, V

the planes of the slots in one rack passing between the planes of the slots in the other rack, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

8. The combination of the four racks having the rails A A A A B B A2 A2 A3 A3 B2 B3, provided with transverse slots, substantially as described, and uprights D and cross-pieces E F, dsubstantially as and for the purposes speci ie 9. The combination of the four racks two above and two below, placed back to back, and the rails thereof being provided with transverse slots, the upper racks being adapted to r'eceive hind wheels, and the lower racks to receive front wheels, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

. 10. The combination of an upper and lower rack having rails provided withv transverse slots, the upper rack being adapted to receive IIO IZO

hind wheels, and the lower rack to receive l2. Ina 1ack,tl1erai1sAAand B, provided front Wheels, substantiallyas and for the purwith transverse slots having inclined sides, 1o

poses specified. substantially as and for the purposes speciiied.

11. In a rack the combination of the sepa- A y T i s 5 rate blocks K, 7having` slots a m or I/ m, and HIRAM XV RABSOM the 1aek-1ail, the ends of the adjacent blocks Attest: forming the slots a n 01' b n, substantially as J. XVM. STREHLI,

and for the purposes specified. XVM/FER CHAMBERLIN. 

